From TikTok videos, opening on Saturdays to providing Escabags for women and children fleeing domestic violence, one rural agent is shaking things up in the small town of Quirindi, by incorporating strategies used by the major players in metropolitan areas, to the small regional NSW town of only 3,444 people.
Liz Morris, Principal of ONE AGENCY Liverpool Plains joined the network in November 2021, with a view to bring a fresh approach to the marketing & real estate services.
International real estate group ONE AGENCY has announced the opening of two new offices, part of the rollout of a dozen new licensees opening in the coming months.
One Agency Founder and CEO Paul Davies has welcomed Joel Fletcher & Kristy Thomson to the group and believes the duo will have a significant impact in the region.
Rebranding from Richardson & Wrench, Mr Fletcher & Ms Thomson were looking for a more flexible model that allowed them to build their business and brand, and to substantially reduce the fees associated with typical franchising. One Agency provides the backing of an international brand and the autonomy to run their own show.
We’d spoken with a few brands, says Mr Fletcher and found the One Agency network had everything we needed, for a low fixed monthly fee. Any additional proptech is easily sourced from external providers very economically. Therefore I didn’t need, or want, to depend on a franchise to be up to date with industry related technology.
Real estate is a numbers game. But it’s possible you’ve fallen into the trap of looking at the wrong numbers. I know I once did.
Years ago, when I was a principal, I thought the key to success was sales, sales and more sales. Then one day, though, it hit me like a brick in the back of the head: it’s not what you make, it’s what you keep that counts.
Let me run two scenarios by you, and you tell me which sounds better:
One Agency has started identifying which of its for-sale and for-rent properties are wheelchair-friendly, to make the search process easier for wheelchair users.
The group is now using a wheelchair icon when promoting wheelchair-friendly properties in its social and digital marketing.
One Agency would also like to add a wheelchair-friendly filtering option to its online listings, but this is a much bigger technical challenge that requires input from the property portals.
A wheelchair-friendly property is one that has features like wide doors, large bathrooms, and the ability to enter and navigate the property without stairs.
Founder and CEO Paul Davies said until this issue was brought to his attention, he didn’t realise how difficult property searching could be for people who use a wheelchair.
Army Veteran, Ms Tahnee Barnes, who now works with Veterans with mental illnesses and disabilities approached us to see if there were any changes that could be made to help people with disabilities in their property search.
There’s an ancient saying: ‘may you live in interesting times.’ No two ways about it, the last two years have been very ‘interesting’ for the real estate industry.
On the one hand, we’ve enjoyed an extraordinary boom, the likes of which most people have never experienced. On the other, the pandemic has had a massive impact on how we do business. Overnight, everything changed, as face-to-face was replaced with virtual and kitchen tables were converted into offices.
Change may be inevitable. But it can also provoke anxiety – especially when a large amount happens in a short space of time. And while it’s easy to be a good leader when things are going well, it’s been a different challenge during covid.
So what can principals do to support their agents through both the changing market and the strange world in which we’re now living?
Be nurturing
Everyone’s different. So while some agents have thrived in the new normal of virtual tours and Zoom meetings, others have struggled. In my conversations with One Agency principals around Australia, many have told me that covid has had a big impact on agents’ personal lives, which in turn has affected their job performance.
That’s probably not a surprise. For any agent used to working in a busy office, it may have felt isolating when they found themselves working alone for months on end.
Then there are the additional personal challenges of dealing with vaccinations, home-schooling and, maybe, a diminishing income.
My advice? Remember as a leader that your interpersonal skills are just as important as your sales skills. So nurture your agents by:
The founder and CEO of One Agency has warned real estate professionals to start preparing for a very different and possibly slower market in 2022.
Paul Davies’ forecast, based on numerous indicators, price growth may slow in 2022. Traditionally, first in the capital cities and then the regions, and that days on market, accordingly, would increase. As a result, agents and principals will have to manage an environment with less turnover.
Mr Davies gave five reasons why he expected a slowdown in 2022.
“More stock is reportedly already coming onto the market. That means buyers can be more discerning and won’t have the same fear of missing out (FOMO) they experienced throughout 2021,” he said.
“Finance will become harder to get and more expensive. APRA tightened lending criteria in late 2021 and might do more tightening in 2022. Meanwhile, interest rates are likely to drift higher, continuing a trend that started in late 2021”.
“At the same time, there will be more talk about the Reserve Bank increasing the cash rate. That will be enough to dampen buyer confidence – even if the rate rise fails to occur.”
Mr Davies said the 2022 federal election would also negatively affect the market.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my half-century in real estate, it’s that a lot of buyers suspend their decision-making before and after an election, as they wait to see how things will play out,” he said.
One Agency has been delighted to discover an unofficial network that has grown within its midst, of female business owners who mentor other women thinking of joining the group.
Stephanie Mason, who opened One Agency Stephanie Mason in July 2020, has already spoken to a lot of prospective licensees since joining the group.
“I find it very easy to relate to these women why the move is so great for a female in particular, especially if they are running a one-person business like myself,” she said.
“We discuss the reasons they might be looking to move, the obstacles that might pop up and how best to manage them, the benefits of joining the group, and what it can do for your personal lifestyle and professional goals.”
Annette Pinkerton, who’s owned One Agency Pinkerton Properties for eight years, said it’s important for female real estate professionals to support each other.
“I believe that because women are not greatly represented in our area, that prospective new talent looking for mentors or someone to aspire to might bypass our industry,” she said.
“I try to ascertain what their goals are before dishing out advice. I let them know that I’m here to support them. Sometimes, all they need is the encouragement and belief from another woman to find the courage to take the leap.”
Elizabeth Morris, who opened One Agency Liverpool Plains in October, spoke to a female licensee as part of her due diligence process. She said she would be happy to return the favour, by chatting to other women who were weighing up the pros and cons of starting a business under the One Agency brand.
“Coming from a middle-class family and making the decision to go out on my own was a huge decision and one that I thought I would never be able to accomplish,” she said.
“It’s a very male-dominated industry, and as much as we have progressed in the years, there are still a lot of older males out there who don’t think we can do it. If we listen to that side of the argument, we can become very self-conscious,” she said.
One Agency co-founder Annie Davies, who is the only woman to have founded or co-founded one of Australia’s top 10 real estate groups, said she was delighted to see so many women join One Agency, because real estate is an industry that suits many women.
One Agency has added two new services to their turnkey solution, to make it easier than ever for agents to set up their own businesses, and keep more of their gross income.
One Agency founder and CEO Paul Davies said the group’s 620-plus agents and new recruits can now outsource their trust accounting and compliance, as well as their social media marketing to trusted, high-quality providers.
“A major obstacle that holds agents back from going out on their own is having to manage their own trust accounting and compliance. So we’ve solved that problem by establishing an alliance with Think Cloud Solutions, which can manage those crucial back-office tasks on behalf of the new business owner,” he said.
“Another issue is that some agents feel overwhelmed by the thought of having to handle their own social media. So we’ve solved that problem too, through an alliance with Bespoke Media, which can provide business owners with all the content they’d ever need”.
Many agents and principals are stuck in lockdown right now, and are operating in a kind of holding pattern.
Even though you should be able to list and sell (even if under constrained circumstances), you might be waiting for restrictions to end so real estate returns to normal.
The problem is, when restrictions end, real estate won’t return to normal. Just the opposite, in fact.
This is a lesson I learned from One Agency’s Victorian licensees, who went through a succession of lockdowns in 2020.
As soon as restrictions lift, everyone rushes in at once. That leads to high demand for associated service providers, causing bottlenecks in the process.
So the immediate post-lockdown environment is actually likely to be very different from business as usual.
One of the industry’s biggest groups continues to expand, with new members highly motivated to join a group that doesn’t charge franchise fees or insist on restrictive rules.
One Agency now has over 600 agents in Australasia, after recruiting four more in the past month – Elli Birnie (Brighton-Le-Sands, NSW), Jeff Chang (Parramatta, NSW), Hazel McGinty (Gosnells, WA) and Samantha Richards, (Toronto, NSW).
Furthermore, several of One Agency’s existing licensees in New Zealand have expanded their businesses by taking on new territories including Renate and Daniel Ochse in the Far North have expanded into Napier, while Ian Croft in Pukekohe has expanded into Papatoetoe.
Jeff Chang, who won RateMyAgent’s agent of the year for Parramatta in 2020, has moved from agent to principal after seven years in the industry.
The head of one of the industry’s biggest real estate groups has said franchise fees should be questioned, as they penalise agents for being successful.
“The more successful you are, the more you pay – that might make sense for a tax system, but it makes far less sense for a real estate system,” Paul Davies, One Agency’s founder and CEO, said.
Mr Davies added that this was the result of an old fashioned franchise business model that’s weighted heavily in the interest of the franchisor.
A tightening regulatory and lending environment has left many mortgage brokers struggling to grow their earnings.
Now two leading brokers say they’ve found a solution to this problem – and the answer lies in real estate.
After all, brokers and agents deal with the same clients – just at different stages in the property cycle. So it’s by no means a stretch to see how setting up an agency can increase and diversify a broker’s revenue stream.
Doing more for your clients
Martin Walmsley worked at a big four bank before jumping the fence to become a mortgage broker. Late last year, he added another string to his bow: real estate.
While having your name over the door can be an enticing prospect, three industry experts say many principals underestimate the financial and emotional costs of establishing a brand.
And, as it takes time and energy from the core business, principals should consider all their options before striking out on their own.
Why principals are jumping ship
Over the past few decades, the franchise model had come to dominate the Australian real estate industry. Many principals joined the big groups lured by the brand recognition and support that came with a long-established name.
Then the internet changed the rules of the game. As a result, more principals question the franchise system, and look into going it alone.
After all, nobody wants to pay commissions to head office and surrender a lot of control if they get little perceived value in return.
Starting from scratch
Nic Fren, former Real Estate agent and now, founder of Bespoke Media Group, outlined some of the initial expenses principals face building a brand from the ground up.
“A branding kit complete with logo and colour palettes is between $10,000 and $15,000 to create,” he said.
“A good website costs a minimum of $5,000. On top of this, comes flags, A-frames, signage, shop front and the like – so it’s easy to see how it soon stacks up.”
All these costs need to be paid before your business turns a dollar. Then it takes at least six months to discover if you are going to get a return on this investment.
And while choosing logos and fonts might be exciting at first, it eats up valuable time and headspace that should be spent winning new clients.
“The last thing you want to do as a business owner is worry about how your newsletter templates look.”
Time is money
Tristin Hanna, co-founder of brand and design consultancy Thursday Design, said a brand roll-out can take up to a year to complete, once all touch-points are considered. It therefore requires a commitment to both time and budget to be delivered effectively.
Have you got a goal for 2021? If not, let me suggest a goal for you – one that might take you by surprise.
No, don’t aim to make more sales in 2021. Instead, set yourself the goal of making more profits.
Last year was crazy. But it wasn’t completely unexpected – because if you study history, you know crises happen from time to time. Sooner or later, another one will occur. Maybe next year; maybe next decade. Nobody knows. All we know is that another crisis is coming.
So in 2021, whether you’re an agent or a principal, your goal should be to become more profitable. That way, no matter what happens in your local market, your business will be sustainable.
Of course, one way to increase your profits is to win more listings. But it’s also possible to make more money while making fewer sales.
Back in 1997 when I first became principal, it made sense to join a long-established franchise group. They provided me with the tools I needed for my business to grow and succeed. And it did, as my agency quickly became one of the leading franchise offices for this national brand.
But that was then – and the internet has completely reshaped the property landscape in the subsequent years.
Everything’s online. And not just the homes we sell and rent, but also all the technology, systems, forms and documents you need to run your business successfully.
Five years ago, I was where you are now. Nervous and fearful about making the step up to principal, even though I had 15 years of being a successful agent under my belt.
But, at nearly 50 years old, this was my ‘now or never’ moment – and I didn’t want to live a life full of regret. So I gathered my courage and leapt.
For a moment, I want you to imagine it’s 2019 – back when none of us had heard the term ‘coronavirus’.
It was a golden time, right? Well, no, it wasn’t, it was a tough year for many. My group, One Agency, has more than 150 licensees across Australasia, and when I visited our principals and agents, I saw just how many of them were operating in tough real estate markets.
Some, though, were thriving. Why? Because they’d built businesses designed not for summer but winter.
Fast forward 12 months and those principals and agents are still doing well, despite COVID.
That leads on to the biggest lesson I’ve learned from this crisis: you can never predict what will happen to your local market or the wider economy. So you need to build a business that can do well in any environment. How? By doing these three things:
How to protect your revenue
Sales revenue is unpredictable, because you have no control over whether your local market goes up, down or sideways.
Property management revenue, though, is largely predictable, because rents are much less volatile than sales prices and volumes. That’s why every agency with a rent roll is safer.
Big or small, even one-person agencies can build rent rolls – you just outsource the different property management functions to freelance staff. One Agency has businesses of every size, including several solo operators, who do sales while managing more than 50 properties.
How to reduce your costs
You have limited control over your revenue, but you have complete control over your costs.
Remember: it’s not what you make, it’s what you keep that counts. That’s why you need to minimise your fixed costs and take a close look at your variable costs. Some ideas include:
How to master your mindset
During my decades in real estate, I’ve learned that the market always turns – for better and worse.
You need to build a mindset that can handle these ups and downs. You can’t allow your mood to go up and down in tandem with the market, because that’s not sustainable.
When the market is booming, you need to remain level-headed; when the market is tanking, you need to remain optimistic.
Have a plan, work the plan and reset as necessary. A strategy with a goal keeps you focused.
So work hard on yourself. Hang out with positive people. Read personal development books. Take care of your physical and mental health. If you’re feeling down, don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Do you want to step up from agent to business owner? If so, let me explain exactly how to do it. The process is simple, although it does require a lot of hard work and sacrifices.
By way of background, I started my business in 2013; four years later, it was named One Agency International Office of the Year. By the time I sold my business in 2020, it had two offices, 20 staff, 420 properties under management and annual GCI of $3 million. So the five-step process I’m about to share really does work.
First, you need at least five years of industry experience, so you understand the ins and outs of real estate. I had 14 years of experience when I opened my business, although, in hindsight, I realise I could’ve made the jump years earlier.
Second, you need to take advice from those who have been there and done that. An obvious way to do that is to join a group. I think I would’ve been successful if I’d gone out as an independent, but it would’ve been harder and taken longer. By joining a group, I was given all the back-end support I needed, which allowed me to focus on growing my business and maximising my profits. Another thing I did was seek outside support – I used a business coach and a property management consultant to become a better principal.
Third, you need to focus on building a rent roll. A rent roll is the foundation of your business. It gives you consistent income, which allows you to get through different kinds of markets. If you build a rent roll, you’ve always got a saleable asset. It also helps you in your local market, because it means more signs, more marketing and more exposure, which allows you to grow your brand. Whenever you sell a property to an investor, try to turn that buyer into a property management client.
Fourth, you need to remember the saying that One Agency founder and CEO Paul Davies has become famous for – it’s not what you make, it’s what you keep that counts. Profits are far more important than revenue. Always look for ways to minimise your costs, especially your fixed costs. (One reason I chose One Agency was because I didn’t have to pay commissions to head office.) Also, defend your income by building a rent roll.
Fifth, you need to see relationships as a form of currency. Our game is all about relationships, but they take time to build. The more people you get to know, and the more effort you invest in nurturing those relationships, the more clients and referrals you’ll attract.
Real estate has long been a ticket to easy money, of course the reality is VERY different.
Being part of a competitive industry that is subject to supply and demand market fluctuations means you have a fluctuating income. And, it can be challenging to stay on top of finances. As much as it is essential to prepare for rainy days, if you are not making a lot of money, this may not be possible.
The onset of Covid 19 and the economic and social implications of lockdown have brought the reality of this home to many. Whilst some have re-evaluated their career choices and are considering leaving the industry, others took the opportunity to reflect on the way they operate in the industry.
While some people think that Agents keep every $ of commission they receive, the reality is very different. Whether you work within a franchised office, as a sole trader, or as a Principal, there are costs-for-doing business, and fee split responsibilities. Whilst researching my book ‘How to Profit in Real Estate Business Ownership’ I found the cost to run many offices is as much as .90c in the dollar, leaving little margin for a rainy day.
During the lockdown period I spoke with many agents and business owners.
One Agency is a revolution in real estate, empowering both individual real estate professionals and established agencies to take control of their future and bring an entirely new level of service to clients.
